You Can’t Sell the Rinker Family Short : Little Larry Outdrives a Big Texan, Shoots a 65 and Is Only 6 Behind

Players on the PGA Tour come in various shapes and sizes. It was an unusual looking threesome that teed off on the 10th hole Saturday morning at Riviera Country Club to begin the third round of the Los Angeles Open.

There were two of the smaller pros--popular local star Tony Sills (5-feet-10, 150 pounds), and Larry Rinker (5-9, 145). And then there was a giant Texan--Phil Blackmar. Blackmar, a rookie from Corpus Christi playing in his second tournament, is 6-7 and weighs 265, making him the biggest man on the tour.

Who shot the best round? It was the smallest guy, Rinker, whose six-under-par 65 was the second best round of the day for anyone in the field. Sills, coming back from Friday’s disastrous 76, had a 69, but Blackmar, who shot a 67 on opening day, had tough luck with his putting and soared to a 76.

Rinker’s hot round put him in position to challenge for a big payoff today. At 206, he trails Lanny Wadkins by six strokes, but there are only 10 golfers in front of him. When he teed off for the third round, there were 34 with better numbers.

Rinker outdrove the huge Blackmar most of the day, just as he did when they were in the same threesome for the first two rounds.

“I hit the ball pretty well,” Rinker said. “I guess it’s because I do a lot of running, and, except when I have an early tee-off, I do 150 push-ups and sit-ups.

“But in fairness to Ralph, he uses a lofted driver that’s almost a 3-wood. If he really wanted to, he could get 20 more yards. Except for two or three holes on this course, the long ball isn’t that important.”

Rinker credited his putting for his successful round. “I’ve never putted better than I did today,” he said. “I bogeyed two holes, the second and the fourth, but both putts hit the hole and caromed out. But on the back nine, my first one, I had only 10 putts.

“Probably the best putt I made all day was for a par on No. 5. It was about a 15-footer and it broke about four feet. It enabled me to regain my confidence.”

Those who begin the third round teeing off on 10 are usually well back of the leader. But there can be some advantages.

“Part of the reason I putted so well,” Rinker said, “was that on the first nine holes, we played on unmarked greens. They were perfect for putting.

“Not only that, weather conditions are better and there’s nobody in front to make you wait.”

Rinker is a member of a Florida family that is becoming prominent in golf. Larry earned $116,000 last year to finish 60th on the men’s tour, and his sister Laurie was No. 10 in the LPGA ranks, earning $115,000. Brother Lee was on the regular tour last year and just won a mini-tour event in Florida. Also, Kellii Daugherty Rinker, the wife of Larry’s older brother, Laine Jr., and a former outstanding amateur in Southern California, is on the Southeast Asia tour. Laine Sr. is a golf teacher and helps them all with their games.

Laine Jr., who is here lending encouragement to Larry, was a big factor in the saga of the Rinker family in golf. When Laine was only 9, he talked Larry, 6, into playing at a country club near their Stuart, Fla., home.

It was Larry, now 27, who first made golf a career among the Rinker kids. He went to the University of Florida, where as a freshman he played against Andy Bean and Curtis Strange.

“Actually,” he said, “I didn’t do that much in college. I didn’t make All-American and won only one tournament. It was when I joined the mini-tour in 1980 that I began to think of making it a career. I won six mini-tournaments and really developed my game.”

After two tries, Larry finally qualified for the tour in the spring of 1981. It was a mixed blessing. He was assured only of a chance to try to qualify for some tournaments on the Monday before the events began. The next two years, playing only occasionally, he had to qualify all over again.

“I knew that if I was ever going to make it, last year would have to be it,” he said. “In each of the first four tournaments I played in last year, I went into Sunday (the final round) in the top 30. On successive Sundays, I shot 83, 79,75 and 74. I sure lost a lot of money.

“The turning point in my career came in late March at New Orleans. I shot a 68 on Sunday, won $43,200, and my worries were over. I knew I would be in the top 125 without a doubt. With that worry out of the way, I played pretty well the rest of the year.”

Until then, Rinker’s one brief fling with fame had been in the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. At the halfway point, he was in second place. Although he faded to 75 and 74 on the last two rounds, he had had his moment in the limelight.

‘I didn’t really fall apart and I’m sure it gave me confidence,” he said. “It also put me into the 1983 Masters, and that was a thrill. But I also was helped by playing in the mini-tour. It made it possible for me to play every week and sharpen my game. It will help Lee, too. He’s won a tournament, and that will give him confidence. It will help him get back on the tour again.

“Really, though, I’m just a player--Laurie’s the great one. She’s one of the giants of the tour.”

Has his sister ever defeated him in golf?

“Not from the back tees,” he said. “But, then, we haven’t played much since she really got good.”